magnetosphere

noun mag·ne·to·sphere \ mag-ˈnē-tə-ˌsfir , -ˈne- \

|Updated on: 14 Aug 2018

Definition of magnetosphere

: a region of space surrounding a celestial object (such as a planet or star) that is dominated by the object's magnetic field so that charged particles are trapped in it

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magnetospheric

play \-ˌnē-tə-ˈsfir-ik, -ˈsfer-\ adjective

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Recent Examples of magnetosphere from the Web

Mapping changes in Saturn’s magnetosphere can tell us a lot about the solar wind, a critical component of space weather that effects probes, satellites and astronauts alike.

— joe pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "Saturn and Its Moon Enceladus Talk To Each Other. The Sound Is Perfectly Cosmic and Eerie.," 10 July 2018
In 2009, the Naval Research Lab suggested that astronomers couldlisten in to find habitable exoplanets by listening for the pulsations of their magnetospheres.

— john wenz, Popular Mechanics, "Meet the Astronomer Who Listens to the Music of the Cosmos," 12 May 2015
The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), a joint CAS and European Space Agency mission, will pioneer a new technique for imaging Earth's magnetosphere.

— dennis normile, Science | AAAS, "New China space missions will watch for colliding black holes, solar blasts," 11 July 2018
To that end, NASA designed and built Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration, the first spacecraft ever dedicated to producing visible images of the magnetosphere.

— jonathan m. pitts, baltimoresun.com, "Johns Hopkins engineers helping NASA restore links to long-lost 'zombie' satellite," 24 May 2018
Thus, if any local hardware finds something unusual happening, its scientists could potentially turn to the IMAGE data to understand whether the magnetosphere as a whole was doing something unusual at the time.

— john timmer, Ars Technica, "NASA confirms: Its undead satellite is operational," 8 Feb. 2018
Both are part of the magnetosphere, the region in space governed by Jupiter's magnetic field.

— avery thompson, Popular Mechanics, "Listen to the Sound and Fury of Jupiter as Recorded by Juno," 1 July 2016
One hitch in that idea is that Mars still does seem to have a bit of a magnetosphere.

— eva botkin-kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, "How NASA's latest mission to Mars might dig up truths about Earth," 7 May 2018
Our planet’s magnetic field generates a protective bubble, called the magnetosphere, that shields the surface from damaging cosmic radiation.

— National Geographic, "Chernobyl's Mutated Species May Help Protect Astronauts," 30 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'magnetosphere.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of magnetosphere

magneto- + -sphere

Note: Term introduced by the Austrian-born physicist Thomas Gold (1920-2004) in "Motions in the Magnetosphere of the Earth," Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 64, no. 9 (September, 1959), pp. 1219-24.

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First Known Use: 1959

in the meaning defined above

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